


The Real President Tudor: Former First Lady Anne Boleyn Tells All!

by iphianassa



Category: The Tudors
Genre: Alternate Universe, American Politics, F/M, Interviews, News Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 16:29:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iphianassa/pseuds/iphianassa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The Tudors" AU as American Politics</p><p>EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Former First Lady Anne Boleyn: Inside her life in the White House, her divorce, and her new life as a single mom!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Real President Tudor: Former First Lady Anne Boleyn Tells All!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whoistorule](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoistorule/gifts).



> Hello, dear giftee! Your request for reimagining of "The Tudors" as a modern, American political AU really threw me at first, but I hope I gave you at least a little bit of what you wanted! Happy Yuletide!

**EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Former First Lady Anne Boleyn  
Inside her life in the White House, her divorce, and her new life as a single mom!**

Three years ago it seemed as though First Lady Anne Boleyn had everything: her debut as a campaign manager won her man the presidency _and_ put a ring on her finger. And it all came with a new address – nothing less than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! Now she gives us the exclusive scoop on how she gave the best years of her life to getting her husband elected and having his child.

“It all started with my good friend at the time, Thomas Cromwell” Anne explains to me at her beautiful home in the south of France. After serving tea, Anne curls up on her white sofa – barefoot! – and confides in me as though we were old friends.

“Thomas and I were at a benefit together, he disappeared for a few minutes and reappeared with someone he said I just had to meet. I was so shocked when I realized it was President Tudor! But we hit it off right away and I knew then that there was no going back.”

I carefully ask Anne if the rumors are true – did she meet President Tudor during his first term in office when he was still married to former First Lady Catherine Aragon? When she smiles coyly, I have to ask about how the two of them kept the secret.

She throws back her head and laughs, “Oh it was complicated, certainly! After Henry hired me to be his campaign manager we spent a lot of time together working, and it quickly developed into something more. We had to be careful because we didn’t want to hurt the image of the campaign – we had to keep our relationship an absolute secret.”

Some would call it the worst kept secret in Washington, I pointed out.

Anne smiles, but there is no sign of a blush. “Everyone knew Henry and Catherine hadn’t gotten along for years, that it was all a façade because of his position. Catherine and I – may she rest in peace - really reconciled in the end, so I don’t even feel badly for telling you that they were really just married too young. Well, he was at least!”

I gently probed Anne for more details.

“They just didn’t really work together anymore. It’s common knowledge that he wanted more children and she couldn’t give them to him. So he met me, and... well, after the re-election there just didn’t seem as though there was any reason to stay apart. Of course, we probably shouldn’t have been seeing each other during the campaign” Anne pauses and betrays a guilty smile – “but we couldn’t help it - we were just so in love!” 

A fact that was obvious to most people, I had to remind her.

“Most people suspected, but we hadn’t confirmed anything,” Anne corrects me. “The polls weren’t looking good – as terrible as it was for all of us, he had to have Catherine by his side to win the election – the people loved her too much. They saw me as a home-wrecker. But Catherine understood. Even though she was never happy about my relationship with Henry she still loved and believed in him. She would have done anything to get him re-elected, so she stuck with him through the campaign.

I really admire that.” Anne admits, uttering perhaps her first positive words in public about Catherine.

How did Anne deal with the scandal? How did she and President Tudor handle the media pressure?

“It was tough on our relationship,” she admits. “Sometimes I wonder if we would still be together if it weren’t for the pressures of his job. I mean, it’s impossible to be ‘on’ twenty-four seven, and even harder to foster a new relationship under that kind of media spotlight. Becoming pregnant with Elizabeth during the campaign was especially hard. Working as a campaign manager, especially in the final months of the campaign is so hard to begin with. Doing it while pregnant is completely exhausting. Plus hiding that joy from the public and having to pretend you’re not anticipating the birth of your first child? It nearly killed Henry!”

Elizabeth is President Tudor’s second child, I have to point out.

“Oh, yes,” Anne hesitates. “With Mary away at school and Henry so busy with work... but I guess Mary is technically first.”

What about the rumors that she and Mary never got along?

“Well it’s so difficult with step children,” Anne sighs, “And Mary was really very tough to get along with. She such a strange little girl - so serious! Definitely her mother’s child. But no, we were really very close. When Elizabeth was born Mary hardly left her sister’s side. She practically moved into her nursery, she was changing so many diapers!”

But what about Cromwell? I asked, steering the conversation back to the man who ruined her marriage.

“The rumors of my affairs were not true,” Anne says so vehemently I am worried I have offended her.

“The accusations by President Tudor against me were simply to lead the public into accepting his new whore, Jane Seymour. The press and the public never liked me after he divorced Catherine after finding out that I was pregnant. He wanted to get rid of me and he hoped to get sympathy by pretending to be the victim while doing it. Don’t be fooled!” she shakes her head at me.

Many of us were surprised when the President’s accusations did not include her having an affair with Thomas Cromwell, I point out.

Anne smiles. “Cromwell and I have always had a special relationship,” she replies. “We have been friends, enemies, and everything in-between.”

“Including lovers?” I have to inquire.

“Now that I won’t say,” she wags a playful finger at me, but her smile says what she will not. Her expression turns serious. “I will say that after my divorce from Henry, Thomas and I are no longer in touch. He is Henry’s Chief of Staff, after all. I guess I’d say we’re frenemies.”

What about Henry himself?

“Oh we don’t talk,” Anne’s expression hardens. “It’s Washington’s worst kept secret that he’s the reason why I’m in France. He doesn’t want me in the U.S. and certainly not in Washington. And I refuse to be around that whore, Jane.”

“Any comments on his recent engagement to Miss Seymour?”

“His third wife since he took office? If she can’t tell that’s a bad track record, she’s dumber than I thought.” Anne scoffs.

I ask Anne about her plans for the future.

“Just to raise Elizabeth to be an accomplished young woman who won’t be pushed around by any man,” Anne says firmly.

Any plans for the young girl?

“I hope she will become a serious political player – just like her parents.”

 _Jane Rochford is a traveling reporter for_ IMPORTANT PEOPLE WEEKLY _. She has previous experience writing the Gossip Column for D.C. Today._


End file.
